Agent Bodies: An Interface Between Agent and Environment

The final publication is available at Springer via http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-23850-0_2Interfacing the agents with their environment is a classical problem when designing multiagent systems. However, the models pertaining to this interface generally choose to either embed it in the agents, or in the environment. In this position paper, we propose to highlight the role of agent bodies as primary components of the multiagent system design. We propose a tentative definition of an agent body, and discuss its responsibilities in terms of MAS components. The agent body takes from both agent and environment: low-level agent mechanisms such as perception and influences are treated locally in the agent bodies. These mechanism participate in the cognitive process, but are not driven by symbol manipulation. Furthermore, it allows to define several bodies for one mind, either to simulate different capabilities, or to interact in the different environments - physical, social- the agent is immersed in. We also draw the main challenges to apply this concept effectively.Saunier, J.; Carrascosa Casamayor, C.; Galland, S.; Kanmeugne, PS. (2015). Agent Bodies: An Interface Between Agent and Environment. En Agent Environments for Multi-Agent Systems IV. 4th International Workshop, E4MAS 2014 - 10 Years Later, Paris, France, May 6, 2014. 25-40. doi:10.1007/978-3-319-23850-0_2S2540Barella, A., Ricci, A., Boissier, O., Carrascosa, C.: MAM5: Multi-agent model for intelligent virtual environments. In: 10th European Workshop on Multi-Agent Systems (EUMAS 2012), pp. 16–30 (2012)Behe, F., Galland, S., Gaud, N., Nicolle, C., Koukam, A.: An ontology-based metamodel for multiagent-based simulations. Int. J. Simul. Model. Pract. 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Bounded Distributed Flocking Control of Nonholonomic Mobile Robots

There have been numerous studies on the problem of flocking control for multiagent systems whose simplified models are presented in terms of point-mass elements. Meanwhile, full dynamic models pose some challenging problems in addressing the flocking control problem of mobile robots due to their nonholonomic dynamic properties. Taking practical constraints into consideration, we propose a novel approach to distributed flocking control of nonholonomic mobile robots by bounded feedback. The flocking control objectives consist of velocity consensus, collision avoidance, and cohesion maintenance among mobile robots. A flocking control protocol which is based on the information of neighbor mobile robots is constructed. The theoretical analysis is conducted with the help of a Lyapunov-like function and graph theory. Simulation results are shown to demonstrate the efficacy of the proposed distributed flocking control scheme

From Physical to Virtual: Widening the Perspective on Multi-Agent Environments

The final publication is available at Springer via http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-23850-0_9Since more than a decade, the environment is seen as a key element when analyzing, developing or deploying Multi-Agent Systems (MAS) applications. Especially, for the development of multi-agent platforms it has become a key concept, similarly to many application in the area of location-based, distributed systems. An emerging, prominent application area for MAS is related to Virtual Environments. The underlying technology has evolved in a way, that these applications have grown out of science fiction novels till research papers and even real applications. Even more, current technologies enable MAS to be key components of such virtual environments. In this paper, we widen the concept of the environment of a MAS to encompass new and mixed physical, virtual, simulated, etc. forms of environments. 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